ARLINGTON, Texas – Dallas Baptist used three home runs to power past UT Arlington 9-3 Saturday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark in a Western Athletic Conference matchup.

A three-run home run in the first inning, a solo shot in the fourth and a five-run seventh was more than enough for the DBU starter Cy Sneed. Sneed pitched seven scoreless innings with five strikeouts, a walk and just four hits allowed.

"I thought there was a lot of frustration early," UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. "Sneed kept us off the board early in the game. We were one hit away, but that is baseball. Last night we got the big hits and today they got the big hits, so we will see tomorrow who gets the big hits."

The Mavericks and Patriots conclude the three-game series with Sunday's rubber match at 1 p.m.

Jake Pinchback led UTA with three hits, while Darien McLemore and Ryan Walker each added a pair for the Maverickss (25-22, 13-7 WAC). Pinchback led off the third inning with a double to the left-center field wall, but was stranded after the remaining three Mavericks were retired in order.

A one-out rally in the first inning opened the scoring for Dallas Baptist. Duncan McAlpine, the WAC leader in home runs, came to the plate with runners on first and second and sent a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall for his 13th blast of the season.

Dallas Baptist (24-23, 10-10 WAC) added another run in the fourth off of another long ball. Chane Lynch sent a lead-off home run to center field, just clearing the glove of a leaping Brandon Lawrence.

The lead was pushed to nine in the seventh inning when the Patriots loaded the bases with no out. Ronnie Mitchell singled through the left to score two and Michael Miller cleared the bases with DBU’s third homer of the game, a three-run shot to left.

McLemore and Pinchback each reached safely in the bottom half of the inning on back-to-back singles with one out. Travis Sibley appeared to send a 3-2 pitch into wind blowing hard to left field, but the DBU left fielder made the catch just short of the fence. John Michael Twichell would fly out in the next at-bat to end the threat.

Walker ended the Patriots shutout bid in the ninth with a single to left. Matt Shortall extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single in the next at bat.